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Letter: Minnesota taxes veterans benefits and social security

The inventor of the Big Mac and the inventor of General Tso’s chicken both died this week. The reason I mention it is this is what exists as headline news in the media today. Buried in the bowels of the internet is a story about Minnesota being in the top-10 worst states for people who are retired. Further digging found that Minnesota is one of the states that taxes veterans' benefits. Think about that, you get compensation for bodily injury suffered in combat and Minnesota decides to confiscate some of the compensation in taxes. Minnesota is also one of the states that taxes Social Security benefits, those benefits being money returned by the federal government after they originally confiscated the money from your income after taxing you on that money, and then Minnesota taxes you again when the federal government grudgingly returns your money. It gets worse. The current Minnesota Legislature is arguing whether they can drink water during the legislative process. Given the results we’re getting from them, maybe they should switch to tequila? That's a beverage that has convinced me that I can dance! Lord only knows what it would do to the cognitive process in a politician’s brain.